Classics (Latin)

Reader comment on: Humanities in Crisis

Submitted by David E. Moran (United States), Nov 7, 2017 18:53

The above was my major at Harvard more than 40 years ago. It was worth it. I became a better writer and reader for it, and after law school those skills helped me rise to the position of Deputy General Counsel at Dow Jones. A Pulitzer winner once called me one of the best writers at the company (which publishes The Wall Street Journal). This is not by way of boasting but only to affirm that being a humanities major then had its benefits -- I read Virgil, Horace, Catullus, Lucretius, Homer, Plato, Juvenal, Cicero, Propertius, Tacitus (among others) -- all of whom had their own intrinsically interesting subjects and styles. After Dow Jones I have done a number of things, and now I find myself joyously teaching Latin to middle school students. I do not know how the Classics Department operates now at Harvard; I imagine it largely caters to people who are aiming for Ph.Ds. But I am grateful for the experience I had, and the professors who taught me.

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